


oh, devour me

by dizzyondreams



Series: from the earth [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Genderqueer Character, M/M, Other, Trans Male Character, Winter, Witch AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 15:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3655890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyondreams/pseuds/dizzyondreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The air was absolutely frigid when Jean stepped off the bus near the entrance of the woods. Little flurries of snow swirled around him, sticking to his glasses and melting, leaving him to huff and try to dry them off on his sweater.</p>
            </blockquote>





	oh, devour me

The air was absolutely frigid when Jean stepped off the bus near the entrance of the woods. Little flurries of snow swirled around him, sticking to his glasses and melting, leaving him to huff and try to dry them off on his sweater.

He was going to visit Eren, all bundled up against the cold in a thick parka, scarf pulled up over his chin to try and keep any warmth in. He trudged through the trees, footsteps crunching in the snow. The forest was even stiller with a thick layer of snow muffling it. It even muted the sounds of traffic, the further he walked, until soon all he could hear was his breathing and the sound of snow under his boots. A bird trilled somewhere to his left, and when he looked Eren was suddenly by his side, walking along next to him like they’d been there forever. Jean started, brought a hand to his chest as if to still his thudding heart.

“Jesus, Eren,” He huffed, “Give a guy some warning when you’re gonna do your creepy silent appearing trick.”

Eren just laughed, shaking snow from their hair, and brushing close to Jean’s side. “It’s funny.” They said, throwing Jean a sly look that he bared his teeth at.

“You’re gonna make me go grey before I turn twenty-five.” He grumbled, but linked his gloved fingers with Eren’s bare ones. “Also, you’re not wearing enough clothes, again.” He glanced down at Eren’s bare feet. “Honestly, how do you not have frostbite?”

“I run hot.” Eren said, giving Jean a feral little grin.

“Whatever, I brought you a present.” Jean said, brushing a low hanging branch out of the way as they strayed off the path. He got snow down the back of his coat, and cringed as it slid cold down his spine. Eren laughed.

“What is it?” They asked, tugging on Jean’s hand as he tried to go the wrong way, leading him over a snowy log that he almost tripped on.

“Surprise.” Jean muttered, trying not to slip on an iced-over puddle that Eren skirted adeptly. He glanced up to see Eren waiting for him on the other side, narrowed his eyes. “God, it’s _snowing_ and you’re wearing a dress. _Eren_.”

“It’s thick.” Eren said defensively, crossing their arms and tugging their old fur vest tighter around their body. The apples of their cheeks were pink with cold, and when Jean joined them he unlooped his scarf from around his neck and wound it around theirs.

“Try and give me less to worry about.” Jean murmured, brushing a melting clump of snow from Eren’s cheek as they fiddled with the ends of the scarf. They gave him a soft little smile and put their hand over his on their cheek.

“It’s not my fault you’re a worrier.” They said sweetly, and laughed when Jean rolled his eyes and pulled away from them. “Come here.” They said, tugging him closer and looping their arms around his neck. They came up to his eye level if they stood on their tiptoes, and Jean steadied them with his hands around their waist as they kissed him.

“What did you bring me.” They murmured against his lips, and Jean snorted and kissed them quickly before moving away.

“I’ll show you when we get inside, I’m freezing my ass off.”

Eren scowled, but grabbed his hand again and took off with Jean in tow.

\---------

The wolf was curled up next to the fireplace when Jean walked in, stamping the snow off his boots in the doorway, glasses fogging up in the sudden heat of the room. Jean closed the front door, and looked away when she raised her head and gave him a cursory glance. Jean was scared of her, while she took indifference to a new level. It bothered Eren, since she was like some kind of family member to them, or something, but like Jean had explained, it wasn’t exactly natural to be on mother-in-law terms with a huge wild wolf.

“This place smells like wet dog.” Jean muttered, shrugging his coat off and hanging it on the coat rack before skirting cautiously around the wolf to take a seat at the table. Her lazy yellow eyes followed him around the room, and at his words she growled softly. Jean shuffled his chair a little further away.

“It’s cold outside, d’you expect me to leave her outside to _freeze_?” Eren asked, crouching down next to the wolf and giving her a scratch behind her ears.

“What, you can handle the cold in bare feet and a _dress_ and your huge wolf can’t handle it with all her,” He gestured towards the wolf. “Fur?”

Eren shot him an impish grin and stood in one quick motion. “I said I ran hot.”

“I know how hot you run,” Jean grumbled, kicking off his snowy boots and drawing his legs up to sit cross-legged. “I’m the guy sharing a bed with you.”

“You’re grateful for it with all this cold.” Eren said, wandering over to the sink, kettle in hand. “Tea?”

“Oh, wait, I brought something-” Jean reached for his rucksack, abandoned under the table, and dug through it before producing a jar of hot chocolate power, which Eren took with reverence in their eyes. “It’s drinking chocolate.” Jean said, watching as they opened it up and smelt it.

“Oh my god.” They murmured, turning it around to read the back. “This smells so good.”

“D’you have any milk?” Jean asked, watching them dip their finger in the powder to taste it. “Don’t do that.”

“I bought some in town a few days ago.” Eren said absently. “Is this okay for wolves?”

“You can’t feed chocolate to dogs.” Jean said, prompting another growl from the wolf. He sighed and turned to her. “You’re the same species, suck it up.” She bared her teeth at him in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of Eren, but laid her head back on her feet and closed her eyes. “I’ve got some other stuff for you.” Jean said, turning back to Eren, who grinned.

“Not sure if anything can compare to this,” They held the jar in their hands up. “But show me.” They left the hot chocolate powder on the counter and moved an aloe plant off a chair to take a seat opposite Jean, chin in their hands.

“Uh, it’s just,” He pulled a sweater out of his rucksack, as well as a pair of boots that had gotten too small for him years ago. “These haven’t really fit me since my growth spurt, but I kinda hung onto them…and you’re in serious need of like, one pair of shoes so-” He trailed off, watching as Eren picked up the boots with the same look in their eyes that they’d regarded the hot chocolate with. “You don’t have to wear them.” Jean said quickly, folding his hands in his lap.

Eren looked from him to the clothes and back, the only sound in the room the crackling of the log fire and the kettle as it rumbled to a boil. Then their face split into a wide grin, and they unfolded the sweater to look at it. “No one’s ever given me anything before.” They said quietly, and Jean looked at the floor, embarrassed.

“It’s not like, special or whatever.” He mumbled, picking at a splinter of wood that had come loose from the table. “I just can’t have you freezing to death like an idiot because you don’t have any warm clothes. There’s socks too.” He added, reaching for his bag again.

“Don’t be like that.” Eren said, shooting him a sly smile as they pulled the jumper on over their head. “I love it. I love the shoes, my feet are actually really cold.” They caught a pair of thick socks Jean threw at them with a rueful laugh. “I just didn’t want you to know that you were right.”

“I knew you were cold.” Jean said triumphantly, watching as Eren pulled the socks on over their feet. “I’m never wrong.”

“What about that time you almost ate newts tongues because you wouldn’t believe me that it wasn’t liquorice?” Eren grinned up at him as they tied the laces of the boots, hair hanging into their eyes and grin bright and infectious. Jean just scoffed and looked away, waved his hand.

“Well now I know better than to eat anything in a jar in this place.”

“Yeah.” Eren said, then dragged Jean’s attention back to them as they stood and held their arms out. “How do I look?”

Jean took in their dishevelled hair, curling from the melted snow. The way the sweater hung on them, their skinny legs and bruised knees and the huge black army boots, the grin that crinkled the corners of their eyes. “You look warm.” Was all he said, a thousand unsaid words clamouring at the back of his throat. He swallowed, and Eren tipped their head to the side, smiled teasingly.

“Wanna see something I can do?” They asked, tugging the overlong sleeves of the sweater over the hands and rocking back on their heels. “Outside.” They added, and Jean groaned but put his coat on regardless, made Eren wrap the scarf around their neck.

“This better be worth it.” Jean grumbled, and Eren punched him in the arm in retaliation. Jean winced and rubbed at his arm, “Jesus, learn how to pull your punches, Eren.”

“Shut up and let me concentrate.” Eren said, ignoring him. They rolled the sleeves of their sweater up, clenched their fists and shook their hands out. “I spent all day doing this yesterday,” They said over their shoulder, a trace of a grin on their face. “Got nothing done.”

“The suspense is killing me.” Jean droned, burying his face in the collar of his parka and hunching his shoulders against the cold. Eren just flipped him off then in one quick motion pointed their index finger at the ground, flicked it up and in a flurry of snow a near-identical snow-Jean was staring at him.

Jean took a step back, so did the snow version of him. “Jesus Christ, Eren. How’d you do that.” He stretched out an arm, and the snow-Jean mirrored him.

“It’s just simple manipulation of water.” Eren replied, arms crossed over their chest as they watched Jean approach the snow figure. “I can do other stuff too.” They said, and with a flick of their finger a large wolf rose out of the snow, shook its head back, bared its fangs at Jean.

“That’s amazing.” Jean murmured, “I love when you do magic.” He added, turning to Eren, who was grinning at him with laughter in their eyes.

“You’re easy to please,” Eren said, twisting their hair up into their ever-present bun. They cracked their knuckles. “Watch this.”

They held their hands out, palms up, and raised them slowly. Wide eyed, Jean watched as a huge round ball of snow rose in the air, leaving the ground underneath green and bare of snow. Eren turned to shoot Jean a grin over their shoulder.

“Pretty cool, right?” They said, and Jean gave the huge snowball a fearful glance.

“Tell me you’re not gonna throw that at me.” He muttered, and shook his head sharply when Eren’s eyes lit up. “Oh, fuck no.”

Eren laughed and flipped their hands palms down in a swift motion, letting the snowball fall, the soft _whump_ of it hitting the ground loud in the still forest. “Nah,” They said, then, “But this one, yeah.” They gave Jean a wicked grin, crooked their finger, and almost immediately something cold and hard smacked firmly into the back of Jean’s head.

“Mother _fucker_.” He growled, scooping snow out of the collar of his jacket before bending down to make his own snowball.

Predictably, Eren flicked it away with a wave of their hand, then sent two simultaneously into Jean’s back, the packed snow hurting where he was hit.

After that, it devolved into unorganised snow chaos, with Eren remaining unhurt and unruffled, laughing and sending so many disembodied snowballs Jean’s way that he had to concede defeat before he got a concussion.

“You’re dramatic.” Eren laughed, back inside the cottage with the fire bringing the life back into Jean’s frozen fingers. They were warming milk on the stove, and Jean crossed the room to loop his arms around their waist, bent his knees a little to rest his chin on the top of their head with a huff.

“I’m the least dramatic person you’ll ever meet.” He murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Eren’s unruly head and sighing contentedly. “You want me to make that?”

“No, I can do it.” Eren said stubbornly. “If I can spend all day making incredibly complicated potions, I should be able to make this.”

“Whatever you say.” Jean mumbled, stepping away from Eren’s warm body and taking a seat at the table. He pushed a couple of jars around, lined them up in an attempt to bring some sort of order to the place. The sounds and smells of the kitchen, warm milk and fresh soil and the crackling fire and hissing gas lamps, Eren humming under their breath, were so comforting Jean found his eyelids drooping with tiredness. Even the wolf’s almost-snores sounded pleasant and comforting to him now. It occurred to him that he’d never had a place he’d felt so at home and safe in before, and his heart swelled a little in his chest as he watched Eren spoon out hot chocolate powder into the milk.

“You wanna take this upstairs?” Eren asked absently without turning around, bracelets clinking as they stirred. “It’s a little cold but I’m warm, y’know, and we can watch the snow through the skylight…” They trailed off, and a second later Jean felt a hand push through his hair, scratch lightly at his head. He leant into the touch, a smile curving his mouth, and heard Eren laugh softly.

“You look worn out.” They murmured, hand stroking through Jean’s hair. “Did I really give you a concussion earlier?” They laughed along with Jean’s sleepy chuckle.

“Nah, I’m just relaxed.” He murmured and opened his eyes a little. Eren was staring down at him with such an open expression he felt embarrassed, exposed. “This is like, the only place I can really relax.”

“That’s good to hear.” Eren said, giving him a warm little smile then nudging his shoulder. “Let’s get into bed and we can talk it out, if you like.” They glanced towards the stove. “I put cinnamon sticks in the hot chocolate, if that’s okay.”

“That’s more than okay.” Jean groaned happily, and sat up straight to tug Eren down for a kiss. “Let’s go freeze our asses off in your bed.”

Eren, grumbling something about the luxuries of having such a warm person to sleep next to, levitated their mugs up ahead of them. They settled into the bed next to Jean after shedding their dress, pulling Jean’s jumper back on over their bare chest with a sly grin shot his way. Jean blushed, for no better reason than that he felt like he should when Eren grinned at him like that. All slow and lazy, long brown legs thrown over Jean’s lap, bare and bruised. Eren’s kisses tasted like cinnamon chocolate, and together they lay on their backs to watch the snow pile up over them in the skylight. Eren fell asleep before him, and Jean pulled the covers up over the two of them to keep the cold out, fell asleep with his face pressed against the nape of Eren’s neck, arms wrapped around their waist.

**Author's Note:**

> for day three of erejean week! (which if you don't know about, you should check out at erejean-week.tumblr.com (a friend + i are running it)) the prompt was winter, which i love i love writing my ships in winter settings.. so many excuses for them to cuddle
> 
> hope you enjoyed! comments are always lovely


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